Getting Started
This chapter describes how to log in to the Cisco Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces (Smart+Connected MS) web portal and the tasks that you can perform using the portal.
•
About Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces
•Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces Portal
About Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces
The Smart+Connected MS is a solution that leverages the Cisco Service Delivery Platform (SDP). It provides features for conference room management and signage-based messaging using IP phones, digital signage/IEC, and web portal. The Smart+Connected MS leads to enhanced user experience, enhanced enterprise communication, and enhanced meeting room resource utilization as the updated meeting room information is widely available and easily accessible to the employees and the administrator. It leads to better resource management and energy savings that translate to reduced energy bills and more environment-friendly corporate practices.
The Smart+Connected MS solution allows the end user to do the following:
•Using Digital Signage/IEC
–Book conference rooms and TelePresence rooms.
–View detailed floor plans with the locations of the conference rooms.
–View the conference room schedule in different views—Building level, Floor level, and Conference Room level.
–View the news content associated with the location.
•Using IP Phones
–Quickly book the conference room and TelePresence room wherever the IP phone is located based on the room availability.
–Control the meeting room devices and equipment.
–Save energy by manually releasing a room for the duration it is unoccupied, in addition to the energy savings made when the solution automatically switches off devices.
–Configure multiple devices to suit your meeting and presentation needs using a single menu selection.
–Create a case to resolve a fault in a conference room by using the IP phone in the room. Creating a case notifies the administrator of the building who tries to resolve the fault.
•Using the Smart+Connected MS user portal
–Search for the available conference rooms and TelePresence rooms and book them.
Note If the LDAP name, alias, and the SDP conference room names are different, then priority is given to the SDP location name and it is displayed in the search results and the meeting information view.
–View the current and upcoming meetings that you are part of or have organized.
–Accept, decline, or tentatively accept meeting invites.
–View all the scheduled meetings as a day, week, or month based calendar view.
–Book conference rooms easily by dragging across the required time slot in the calendar view.
–Book conference rooms instantly using the Quick Booking option. Reservation is made simpler as you can key in the number of participants. Booking duration options range from 30 (the default duration) to 60 minutes. Location is by default the one specified in your Preferences.
–Use the detailed booking option where you can request for change in the room setup, book equipment, add meeting agenda and notes, and so on.
–Edit the details of the meetings you have organized.
–Save drafts of the bookings and edit them later.
–Save your preferred settings such as favorite rooms, location, and time zone.
In addition, the solution can help in energy savings by automatically switching devices to a standby mode when the meeting room is unoccupied and based on the configuration, turn them back on before the actual occupancy.
As administrator, you need to manage the overall configuration, maintenance, and content creation for the Smart+Connected MS solution through a web portal. You need to add locations and devices, create users, and associate devices to locations for the solution in the SDP. For more information on performing these tasks, see the Cisco Service Delivery Platform User Guide and Cisco Service Delivery Platform Installation Guide. After the locations are added, and the devices are associated to them in the SDP, they are available in the Smart+Connected MS portal. You can select a location and associate a configuration to it. The features such as fault messages, device control options, signage menu messaging, and room booking that are added to the configuration can be accessed by the end user from the IP phones at the location.
Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces Portal
The Smart+Connected MS portal allows you to create, edit, and delete the content that appears on digital signage and IP phones. You can manage the communication and transfer of information between IP phones and digital signage using the various tabs provided by the portal. You can also generate reports about the conference room usage.
Logging In
You can log in to the Smart+Connected MS web portal using any of the browsers certified for the application. After you complete the installation process, the portal can be accessed using http://host-name:domain-port/solutions. You can use "superadmin" as the username and password, which is created by default during installation.
Note For security reasons, it is recommended that you change the default password.
If you want other users to access the application, you need to create additional roles and users by logging in to the Cisco Service Delivery Platform (SDP). For more information, see the Cisco Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces & Cisco Smart+Connected Digital Signage Installation Guide and the Cisco Service Delivery Platform User Guide.
To log in to the Smart+Connected MS portal, perform the following steps:
Step 1 Enter the URL in the address field of the web browser, and click Enter.
The Smart+Connected MS Login page appears.
Step 2 Enter the username and password.
Step 3 Click Login.
The Smart+Connected MS home page appears.
After logging in, if you do not use the portal for a while, your browsing session will time out. In such a situation, you must re-log in to the portal.
Portal Tabs
The Smart+Connected MS portal has the following main tabs:
•Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces Tab
Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces Tab
The Smart+Connected Meeting Spaces tab has five subtabs:
Configurations Tab
The Configurations tab allows you to add, view, edit, and delete configurations. A configuration allows you to specify the list of device-control features, fault messages, signage messages, and energy-saving settings for the location to which it is associated. You can add a new configuration or select an existing configuration and assign it to a location. A configuration can be assigned to multiple locations. The end user would be able to work with and see only the features that are added to a configuration using the IP phones at that location. For more information on working with the Configurations tab, see
Fault Menu Tab
Device defects and problems in a conference room that you want to report and resolve are known as faults. The Fault Menu tab allows you to add, view, edit, and delete fault items. These fault items are also available on the Configurations tab from where you can add them to a configuration. The fault items added to a configuration that is associated to a location are listed on the IP phone at that location. After a user selects a fault from the IP phone, a case is created in the trouble ticketing system. For more information on working with the Fault Menu tab, see
Signage Menu Tab
The Signage Menu tab allows you to add, view, edit, and delete messages that are listed on the IP phone and are displayed on the conference room digital signage, once the user selects them. The messages that are added to the configuration that is associated to a location are listed on the IP phone at that location. After a user selects a message from the IP phone, it is displayed on the digital signage associated to the location (outside the conference room where the phone is located). For more information on working with the Signage Menu tab, see
Signage Content Tab
The signage content refers to information such as the schedule and availability of conference rooms. This data can be seen through different views—at the building level, floor level, and conference room level. The Signage Content tab allows you to add, view, edit, and delete signage content. You can select the digital signage for which you want to add the content, select a template, and associate conference rooms to the digital signage. The Signage Content tab allows you to customize the content for the digital signage at a specific location. For more information on working with the Signage Content tab, see
Reports Tab
The Reports tab allows you to view the usage trend for the conference rooms. This gives you an overall picture of the rooms that are used more frequently, the total number of hours for which they are used during a period of time, and so on. Four types of reports are available: the Auto Release report, Early Release report, Room Usage report, and Room Utilization report. You can select the location(s) for which you want to generate the report and specify the time range and report type. You can download the reports that you generate as PDF files. For more information on working with the Reports tab, see
Tools Tab
The Tools tab has two subtabs:
Management Tab
When you click Tools, the Management tab appears by default; it has the following options:
•Refresh Data Collection
•Refresh Energy Savings
•Remove IP Phone Cache
•Remove Location Property Cache
•Remove Time Zone Cache
The Refresh Data Collection option allows you to collect data from the newly added data points.
Each time that you make changes to the Energy Saving settings in the Configurations tab, you need to use the Refresh Energy Savings option to activate the changes.
You can use the Remove IP Phone Cache option to ensure that IP phones, which are newly provisioned in the solution (through SDP), can start accessing the service without restarting the solution.
Any changes that you make to the location properties in the SDP such as changing the room setup, room size, or enabling/disabling the TelePresence service are reflected in the Smart+Connected MS application only after you use the Remove Location Property Cache option.
The Remove Time Zone Cache option must be used to update the conference room time zone if the property is changed in the SDP.
Templates Tab
The Templates tab allows you to add signage content templates. You can add templates for News Content, Emergency Notification, and Green Advisor. For more information, see the Cisco Smart+Connected Digital Signage Administrator's Guide
Room Setup Tab
You can use the Room Setup tab to add various seating arrangement options for conference rooms. The end user can choose any of these room setups while searching for/booking a conference room. For more information, see the
Feedback